How does narrative form create meaning? Many of the best works of 19th-century Russian literature reflect upon the nature of storytelling and the capacity of stories to represent truth. In the 20th century, Russian literary theoreticians like Eikhenbaum, Bakhtin, Jakobson, and Lotman joined fiction writers in developing a powerful and useful critical vocabulary for describing and understanding narrative. Their work led them and writers of their generation into innovative experiments in short fiction. This course looks at the creative interplay between story writing and thinking about stories in modern Russian literature. We will read short stories and short novels by Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Zoshchenko, Platonov, and Petrushevskaia. We will also read articles and selected chapters on theory by Iser, Hirsch, Chatman, Booth, Culler, White, Caws, Bakhtin, Lotman, Frye, and Jakobson.

Essential Capabilities:
Intercultural Literacy, InterpretationThis course raises the question: how can we in our culture, our period, understand stories written in other cultures, other periods. It answers this question in two ways: 1) by using our theoretical and literary readings to identify meaningful structures intrinsic to all stories; and 2) by providing insights into modern Russian social/cultural history that will enable students to understand our literary readings in their original context.

Major Readings: (If discrepancies exist between major readings in Wesmaps and the results generated by the Text Book Information link, defer to the readings posted in Broad Street Books.)Text Book InformationPushkin, QUEEN OF SPADES, THE BELKIN TALESGogol, IVAN SHPONKA AND HIS AUNT, HOW THE TWO IVANS QUARRELEDTurgenev, FIRST LOVEDostoevsky, CRIME AND PUNISHMENTTolstoy, DEATH OF IVAN ILYCH, MASTER AND MAN, THE KREUTZER SONATAChekhov, LADY WITH THE DOG, ANNA ON THE NECK, THE NAME-DAY PARTY, UNCLE VANYAZoshchenko, VICTORIA KAZIMIROVNA, THE ARISTOCRAT, THE BATHHOUSEPlatonov, POTUDAN RIVERPetrushevskaia, THE TIME: NIGHT

Examination and Assignments: Frequent one-page papers for facilitating class discussions, a mid-term exam, a 7-page paper, and a final writing project.